News
Joy in the Morning - Grace Kids
September 11, 2023
Joy in the Morning: Grace Kids gets a new look, new location, new life By Alan Wild LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A year ago, steadily worsening violent crime in Louisville was casting an alarming shadow over the future of Grace Kids: A ...
Whenever, Wherever Worship Launched First Episode
September 11, 2023
Whenever Wherever Worship, released it's first episode yesterday to a small but growing audience. One audience member expressed their appreciation for having this service which allowed them to still attend a worship service ...
Camp and Retreat Ministry News
August 31, 2023
This summer our camps carried on their tradition of offering a robust, Christ-filled camping ministry to over 1,300 campers led by amazing summer camp counselors, deans, volunteers, and camp staff. From morning devotions to ...
‘A good day’: Northern Kentucky church plant Antioch UMC charters
August 20, 2023
ERLANGER, Ky. – About 100 people worshiped and celebrated Sunday, Aug. 20, as Antioch United Methodist Church – a new faith community that sprang up organically during the Easter season – held its charter service, meaning Antioch...
Coming soon to an online device near you: ‘Whenever, Wherever Church’
August 11, 2023
A weekly online worship service produced by the Kentucky Annual Conference will launch Sept. 10 at 11:00 a.m. ET, with an eye toward attracting United Methodists who have been displaced by churches that have disaffiliated from ...
Middletown UMC mobile ministry takes medicine to those in need
August 04, 2023
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Middletown United Methodist Church is looking for a few good medical providers for its Mobile Medical Ministry. Actually, more than a few. When it comes to ministering to people in some of Louisville’s most ...
‘Living a dream’: New UMC church launches in Cadiz
July 10, 2023
More than 50 people attended the launch of the United Methodist Church of Trigg County on Sunday, July 9 – and the Rev. Steven Neel, the pastor, couldn’t be more excited. “Just living a dream. That’s all I can say,” Neel, 59, a...
Request for Nominations – Lay Members, Task Force on Evangelism
July 02, 2023
In response to the motion approved during the 2023 Annual Conference to create a Task Force on Evangelism, the Board of Laity (BOL) is required to appoint at least five lay members to serve on the Task Force. To appoint qualified...
United Methodism in Kentucky: Showing the Love of God
June 21, 2023
When United Methodists from throughout Kentucky met in Owensboro June 4-7 for our 2023 Annual Conference, much was made in news reports about the 286 churches that were approved to leave the denomination. We understand the ...
AC Day 4: Bishop Fairley reminds body to ‘plant gardens’ and make disciples of Christ
June 07, 2023
OWENSBORO, Ky. – The 2023 Annual Conference concluded Wednesday, June 7, with the traditional reading of appointments by district superintendents and a reminder from Bishop Leonard Fairley that we must be planters of gardens on ...
Two ‘PKs’ find Annual Conference an uplifting experience
June 07, 2023
OWENSBORO, Ky. – When it comes to having adventures at Annual Conference, leave it to a couple of preachers’ kids to set the bar high. Buddies John Maynard, 17, and Noah Sparks, 14, had been swimming Tuesday evening, June 6, at ...
AC Day 3: Three clergy, one lay member elected to General/Jurisdictional delegation
June 06, 2023
OWENSBORO, Ky. – Three clergy members and one lay member were elected Tuesday, June 6, to the General/Jurisdictional Conference delegation during the third day of the 2023 Annual Conference. The Rev. Dr. John Hatton was elected ...
Q & A with... Rev. Dr. Tina Patterson, Director of Connectional and African American Ministries
June 06, 2023
Rev. Dr. Tina Patterson has been in ministry for more than 20 years, starting in the Baptist Church and becoming United Methodist in 2009. Patterson was commissioned in 2012 and became a full elder in 2014. She has served at ...
AC Day 2: Bishop says 2 new directors will help begin conference ‘pivot’
June 05, 2023
OWENSBORO, Ky. – Two new staff members were formally introduced Tuesday, June 5, during the opening plenary session of the Kentucky Annual Conference – the Rev. Dr. Kimberly Pope-Seiberling, director of New Church Development, ...
AC worship: Bishop Fairley urges us to show love in every setting
June 05, 2023
OWENSBORO, Ky. – To truly be passionate spiritual disciples in an uncertain world, we must show the love of Christ in every aspect of our lives, Bishop Leonard Fairley said Monday, June 5, during Opening Worship of the 2023 ...
Q&A with … Rev. Dr. Kimberly Pope-Seiberling, New Church Development Director
June 04, 2023
Rev. Dr. Kimberly Pope-Seiberling started as New Church Development director on May 1, 2023. She started her ministry career in the West Ohio Conference about 20 years ago as a student associate pastor. The church, which had an ...
AC Day 1: Members overwhelmingly approve disaffiliation of 286 churches
June 03, 2023
OWENSBORO, Ky. – Members of the 2023 Kentucky Annual Conference voted overwhelmingly Sunday, June 4, to allow 286 churches to disaffiliate under Paragraph 2553 of The Book of Discipline. The final vote, taken electronically in ...
Council of Bishops president visits new worship community in Northern Kentucky
May 21, 2023
ERLANGER, Ky. – It’s not every day a church so new it still lacks an official name gets well-wishes and a pep talk from the president of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church. But connections that reach all the ...
Important United Methodist General Conference 2024 update
May 11, 2023
General Conference is scheduled for April 23-May 3, 2024, at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Initially planned for 2020, it's been postponed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2023,...
Smithson named Interim Director Camp Loucon
May 09, 2023
We are excited to announce that Greg Smithson has been hired as the Interim Director of Camp Loucon. Greg has been employed with Camp Loucon since 2016 as both summer staff for four summers and then as program staff from May 2022...
Bishop Fairley implores conference clergy to plant spiritual gardens
April 27, 2023
CRESTWOOD, Ky. – Bishop Leonard Fairley spent parts of four days over the past week and a half worshiping and breaking bread with clergy from across the Kentucky Annual Conference – and talking about planting gardens. “No matter...
Revolution Church rallies after storm damage
April 17, 2023
When a line of severe storms passed through Louisville late in the afternoon on Wednesday, April 5, the strong winds ripped off part of the roof of the office building where Revolution Church is located. The rain poured in, ...
3 Louisville-area United Methodist churches hold prayer vigils after shooting
April 10, 2023
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Prayer vigils held at three Louisville-area United Methodist churches in response to a deadly shooting spree drew a total of about 150 people – people who needed the opportunity to pray and to begin processing ...
Bishop Leonard Fairley issues a statement on the mass shooting in Louisville
April 10, 2023
Maybe I should have waited until all the facts were in first. I have not given myself space to think about writing a nice theological episcopal statement around this most recent act of gun violence, this time in Louisville ...
Light In Darkness
March 29, 2023
Holy Week leading up to Resurrection Sunday shows how passionate God’s desire is to redeem the whole of creation – a passion lived out in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ every dividing wall is ...
Lighthouse churches will help grieving congregants heal, reconnect
March 29, 2023
Just in time for Holy Week and Easter resurrection, dozens of churches in the Kentucky Annual Conference are stepping forward as “lighthouse churches” – specially equipped to welcome members of disaffiliating churches who wish to ...
3 task teams begin work on envisioning a new Kentucky Annual Conference
March 12, 2023
CRESTWOOD, Ky. – Three visioning task teams met for the first time Friday, March 10, to begin strategizing about how the Kentucky Annual Conference might look moving forward – a smaller conference but one still laser-focused on ...
UMC pastors again celebrate connectionalism, look optimistically to the future
February 28, 2023
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Uncertainty. Anger. Loss. Grief. Those are among the most powerful and prevalent emotions that Kentucky’s United Methodist clergy are experiencing during this season of debate and disaffiliation. About 60 ...
Mid-Term State of The United Methodist Church Address
February 24, 2023
Washington, D.C. — Council of Bishops President Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton will deliver a Mid-Term State of The United Methodist Church Address on March 2, 2023, at 1pm EST. The video presentation will launch on the official ...
Young people take part in National Collegiate Day of Prayer
February 24, 2023
WILMORE, Ky. – Kentucky United Methodist college students were among those who took part in the National Collegiate Day of Prayer on Thursday evening, Feb. 23 – including a sizable number at Asbury University as a 16-day spiritual...
‘This is just the beginning’ Organic spiritual revival at Asbury draws thousands from across U.S.
February 16, 2023
WILMORE, Ky. – When Georgia Dobson and Haley Smith saw on TikTok that a spiritual revival was taking place as Asbury University, they knew they had to go see it for themselves. The friends, both 16, live in New Albany, Indiana, ...
An Update from the Eastern Kentucky Disaster Response Ministry
February 14, 2023
The Disaster Response Ministry (DRM) for Eastern Kentucky is now ready to enter the Recovery Phase for the July 2022 flooding that affected so many people and communities in our conference. The DRM is working directly with UMCOR ...
Kentucky Conference Disaffiliation Statement from Bishop Fairley
February 13, 2023
Sisters and brothers in Christ, I have watched with great sadness as congregations have inquired and voted on disaffiliation. It is out of this sadness that I speak to you now. I know many of you are wondering if I will call a ...
‘It was just a good time’: Winter Blitz 2023 small but mighty!
February 05, 2023
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nearly 400 youth and their leaders – a larger-than-expected group – attended the Kentucky Annual Conference’s Winter Blitz 2023 held Friday-Sunday (Feb. 3-5) in the West Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center. ...
Jim Morse to step down from disaster-response ministry role
January 26, 2023
Bishop Leonard Fairley can remember, as the newly assigned bishop of the Kentucky Annual Conference, his first brush with disaster response. Severe flooding hit the Augusta area and other parts of northeastern Kentucky in the ...
Speaker at King commemoration calls for church to lead the way in love, reconciliation
January 14, 2023
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A two-hour worship service commemorating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday culminated in a moving altar call, as more than two dozen people went to the front of the Crescent Hill UMC sanctuary Saturday,...
UMC Bishops ask church court for clarification on 2024 Conference
January 09, 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Council of Bishops (COB) of The United Methodist Church is petitioning the denomination’s top court for clarification on its recent decision regarding the General Conference that will be held in 2024. The ...
Clergy to receive dedicated email addresses
January 06, 2023
In an effort to improve consistency and reliability, all active and retired clergy in the Kentucky Annual Conference soon will have a dedicated address where they will receive all conference-related emails. The initiative, which ...
Rev. Dr. Larry Stoess retiring Dec. 31, but inner-city work outlined in book goes on
December 28, 2022
When it comes to inner-city ministry work in Louisville, Rev. Dr. Larry Stoess wrote the book – literally. Stoess, who has ministered in the city’s west-end Portland neighborhood since 1996, has written a book about that ...
Conference office New Year's schedule
December 23, 2022
The Kentucky Annual Conference Office will be closed Friday, December 30th and Monday, January 2nd, in celebration of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The office will reopen on Tuesday, January. 3, 2023. God’s blessings on all ...
2022 Special Called Session documents and recording
December 07, 2022
DOCUMENTS FOR THE SPECIAL SESSION Bulletin for the Special Session Bulletin for the Special Session (Spanish Version) Board of Trustee's Report Board of Trustee's Report (Spanish Version) Minutes of the Special Session . VIDEO...
Kentucky Annual Conference approves disaffiliation of 57 churches
December 04, 2022
Kentucky Annual Conference members overwhelmingly approved a motion to allow 57 churches to disaffiliate during a special session held online Sunday, Dec. 4. Clergy and lay members voted 332-29 to accept a report by the ...
Final preparations falling into place for special called Annual Conference
December 02, 2022
Final preparations are underway for a special session of the Kentucky Annual Conference called for the sole purpose of completing the process of disaffiliation of churches that have met the requirements outlined in Paragraph 2553 ...
Long-term recovery work to begin in flood-ravaged Eastern Kentucky
December 02, 2022
Volunteer work crews to begin long-term recovery efforts in flood-ravaged Eastern Kentucky are starting to form and will begin work in the region in early spring 2023, according to Rev. Jim Savage, the Regional Response ...
Lay Supply speaker inducted into WKU Athletic Hall of Fame
November 24, 2022
Harry Todd has lived a full and interesting life – basketball star in high school and college, lengthy Army career, tourism director in Trigg-Christian counties, and in recent years as a lay supply pulpit speaker in the ...
Stay UMC - Continuing as a Member of the United Methodist Church
November 23, 2022
In this season when some churches are choosing to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, we are frequently asked what to do if your local church votes to leave but you wish to remain. If your local congregation is ...
Council of Bishops welcomes thirteen newly elected bishops
November 07, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Council of Bishops (COB) of The United Methodist Church is welcoming thirteen (13) bishops who were elected during last week’s jurisdictional conferences in the United States. “It is a joy to welcome this ...
Bishop Fairley reappointed to Kentucky, Central Appalachian conferences
November 04, 2022
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. – Bishop Leonard Fairley has been reassigned to the Kentucky Annual Conference, the Committee on Episcopacy announced Friday morning, Nov. 4, during the final day of the Southeastern Jurisdictional ...